Imoni Petgrave
Mrs. Zamorski
Course: ECE 1011
22 February, 2013
The Girl Who Was Interrupted by Society
Many people strive to live their life up to society’s standards. In today’s society there are
all types of people to consider based on how it is judged. It’s filled with the multiple differences
of gender, age, race, beliefs, and even sexual orientation. Society can be described as our
everyday surroundings of both the people we know to a certain level, and people we don’t know
at all. An unnoticeable fact about our society is that we are a group of people who think of others
as being better than us when every person is thinking the same thing. The effect society has on
the public can be extremely severe depending on the type of person you are. A group of people
that society affects the most are young children and even teenagers. They intake the aspect of
society as a comfort zone. For example, when they're in a school like setting they won’t feel
comfortable until they have made a few friends and been recognized by certain people. This is
when the term shy goes away. Some children will outgrow this feeling as they develop their own
mentality, and some may have the same view of society through their entire life. There are two
main types of people in this world. People who don’t care about others opinions, the people who
do care about others opinions, and also the people who are in between. A simple opinion can
automatically make an insecure person feel like they aren’t good enough for the world. As for
people who think highly of themselves, an opinion can boost their ego in all the wrong conducts.
In the Book “Girl Interrupted” society played a massive role based on how Susanna thought of
herself. She couldn’t understand if she was mentally ill, perfectly fine, or going insane.
Susanna Kaysen was eighteen years old when she first got admitted into the psychiatric
hospital. Being only at the age of eighteen she didn’t know what to expect, nor did she know if
she should have been taken there. When your eighteen you are still considered a teenager that
has not completely developed mentality wise. You are also rebellious and have the mindset of
thinking that you know everything. In Susanna’s position, she was confused because her life had
gone from one extreme to the next in the matter of hours. All she was aware of was that she had
now been diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder. This disorder is commonly described
as the condition that affects an individual’s ability to maintain normal functioning relationships
with other people. It causes a person to have wild emotions and different patterns of unstable
behavior that last for long periods of time. This disorder is diagnosed by signs of impulsive
behaviors that occur between the individual suffering from the condition, and others in this
person’s life. The effects of this disorder can happen to Susanna at any time throughout the day
whether its home, work, with friends, among family members, or even in personal relationships.
Once doctors diagnosed Susanna everything started to come together. The reason for her suicidal
thoughts, the suicidal attempts, and the conflicts between her and her boyfriend were starting to
make sense. This Borderline Personality Disorder was the main reason for Susanna getting
admitted into the psychiatric hospital. Doctors considered her a threat to herself and assumed she
would eventually become a threat to others. She wasn’t aware that she was destroying
relationships in her life with the people she cherished most. At this point society viewed Susanna
as an unstable human being who couldn’t take care of herself. She was now put in the category
of a “crazy” person. Her suicidal attempts led them to this conclusion and there was no one to
blame. She couldn't blame the people in her life because she was responsible for her own actions,
and she couldn't blame herself because she had no control of her actions. She was so engrossed
into her own emotions that she didn’t have the patience to worry about society’s opinions
towards her. Since Susanna was living in her own world for so long she didn’t know what to
think of herself when she got to the hospital. At first she questioned their actions, but soon had to
come to the realization that she was essentially in a psychiatric hospital with individuals who
needed psychiatric attention. In fact she thought the other patients needed more psychiatric
attention then she did.
As Susanna took her first steps into the hospital she knew her life had changed forever.
She was going to have to get used to a completely different environment far from what she was
used to. She couldn’t understand if she should be there or not. The doctor’s reaction to Susanna’s
disorder was to protect her from herself. They thought of her suicide attempts as her soon to be
ticket out of life. Of course Susanna didn’t understand the doctors concerns because she was only
eighteen. She didn’t know what to think, nor did she know what to believe. Assuming the
doctors were positive about their proceedings, Susanna thought they were doing the right thing
for her. She never wanted to be taken out of her comfort zone but had no choice. At that moment
the society judging her was the doctors that knew her better than she knew herself. They were
continuously studying Susanna until they found the cure to her unusual behavior. Within
Susanna’s personals thoughts she figured “If these doctors think I need to be in a psychiatric
hospital, then maybe this is the right thing for me”. The way Susanna grew up also has a lot to do
with the way she thought. Her parents were never consistently around to provide the support that
she needed to cope with her disorder. Eventually society became the only support Susanna relied
on. She didn’t understand that her attitude, and most of all her actions were becoming a constant
problem. Susanna’s doctors were the cause of her thought process. They made her understand
that she was different from other people that lived in the same world as her.
Being diagnosed with Borderline Personality Disorder made Susanna aware that she was
slightly different from other people. In fact, she considered herself less than slightly different
from others. It didn’t take her any time to adjust to her disorder because she figured it was just
something minor that affected her attitude towards others. The way society reacted to Susanna’s
disorder enhanced her idea of how severe she thought it was. Soon after she was admitted to the
psychiatric hospital, she was diagnosed with her disorder. At that point she noticed she would be
surrounded with people whom disorders were more severe compared to hers. After visualizing
the extreme attitudes from the other patients Susanna couldn’t help but to consider herself
“crazy”. When she saw the other patients screaming, being tied up by doctors, and given their
daily medicine she couldn’t help but to put herself on the equivalent insanity level as them.
In the stage of life that Susanna was in the patients and doctors in the psychiatric hospital
became her society. The way they treated her gave her the impression that she needed to be
treated in a certain way. In a way that showed she couldn’t handle herself in an adult manner.
Susanna was at a point in her life where she didn’t have control of anything. She was living by
the rules of her doctors and patients by adjusting to their daily routine. When Susanna first got
admitted to the hospital she had to go through a procedure that in her opinion violated her body.
The patients clothing would get stripped off to make sure they didn’t contain any dangerous
weapons, and they would be given a new set of hospital clothes. Not only did Susanna have to be
surrounded with her new peers all day, but she had to be dressed like them as well. Being in the
hospital made Susanna feel belittled. She was pulled out of her own life and put in a pool of
sharks with sharper teeth than hers. Since Susanna got to witness the behavioral issues of the
other patients she started to compare herself to them more and more. She figured if the doctors
put me in this hospital, in this type of environment, with these types of people, then I belong
here. Society finally convinced Susanna that she was mentally ill and needed to be treated like a
mentally ill person. Her thoughts about herself were starting to vanish and be replaced with the
treatment she received while being at the hospital. Susanna wasn’t exactly letting herself go, but
she was letting the actions of others influence her based on how much she believed in herself.
Instead of keeping the mentality of her having minor problems within herself, she began to
believe that she was as psychotic as the others.
Susanna had a different relationship with each person in her life. There was her father,
the doctors at the hospital, the patients at the hospital, and her boyfriend that might as well have
been called her friend. Susanna never had a secure relationship with her father. Instead of it
being a call me on a regular basis connection, it was more of a call me only if you need me type
of deal. While Susanna was in the hospital never once did her father come to visit her. At one
point the doctor told her she had a visitor and she had no clue as to who it was. Her first words
were “It wasn’t my father, he was too busy” (Kaysen 25). Susanna already knows what to expect
from her father which generates the idea that they’ve never had a correlated relationship. The
treatment her father gave her made her feel like she wasn’t good enough for him. People usually
value the attention they receive from parents, especially teens. When you don’t get the love you
need from your parents it can affect you emotionally and mentally. After Susanna assumed it
wasn’t her father who came to visit her, her next words were “It wasn’t my troublesome
boyfriend. First of all he’s wasn’t my boyfriend anymore”. Just by Susanna’s reactions to her
own thoughts concluded that she and her ex boyfriend didn’t end on good terms. While she was
in the hospital he too didn’t come to visit her. “Anyhow, he couldn’t bear coming here. His
mother had been in a loony bin too, it turned out, and he couldn’t bear being reminded of it”
(Kaysen 25). Susanna’s ex boyfriend seemed to have problems of his own. He couldn’t deal with
the problems within himself and Susanna as well. The doctors at the hospital did their job in
terms of treating Susanna right. They always showed respect for her and slowly became her new
parents. When she needed someone to support her disorder the doctors were always there for her.
The patients played a significant role in Susanna’s life by being her friends. She didn’t have
close family or a companion, so the least she deserved was to have a good friend. Most of the
time Susanna basically sat back and watching her friends have their episodes, but still accepted
them as they were. Even though they each had their own problem, for once in her life Susanna
was surrounded by people she could relate to. The difference between Susanna and her friends
showed her that no matter how different someone is, if you want to be there for them, you will.
All she could think about was how much she was how much she didn't need to rely on people
such as her father and her ex boyfriend. Susanna was starting to get to comfortable with being at
the hospital. She went in with the intentions of getting psychiatric help, but eventually let the
hospital became her comfort zone because she felt like she was finally fitting in with society.
Susanna didn't stay in the hospital forever. She developed a mature enough
attitude and was able to be released to start a new life. Before her life transitioned into the
psychiatric hospital Susanna didn't believe anything was wrong with her. She thought of herself
as a normal teenager that occasionally had her mood swings. The first day she spent at the
hospital would be a never ending memory. She was able to enter the real world with more
control over her disorder as well as believing in herself as a new and improved young lady. She
allowed the treatment the doctors gave her make her feel like she needed it, sort of like her body
became immune to the psychiatric hospital life. Her relationships with the other patients had its
advantages and disadvantages. There was an advantage of Susanna being able to notice that she
wasn't as crazy as society made her feel, and a disadvantage of being around others that needed
more attention than her. If Susanna was in the hospital with people who had disorders more
similar to hers, it would have been easier for her to recover. Throughout the entire story Susanna
knew she wasn't as insane as her situation portrayed to be, but let the actions of society change
her mind. The relationship between both her father and her ex boyfriend had the same toll on her.
Two people she cared about the most weren't there to support her through the time when she
needed them the most. They never seemed to give her the right attention when she was out in the
real world, and definitely didn't show her any attention while she was in the hospital. When you
look on the positive side, the psychiatric hospital brought some benefit into Susanna's life. She
was now able to act her age and cope with her disorder. Society shouldn't be the motivation of
becoming a better person, but for Susanna it appeared to work. If she was never admitted to the
hospital she would have still been the same person. The hospital showed her what she was
capable of, and improved the things that required her to be the person she had became. The fact
that this book is based off of true events makes the the impact society has on individuals as a
whole more noticeable. People have became so used paying attention to what others think that
they've lost the person they once used to be. You are who you are and whoever cant except that
doesn't deserve a second of your time.
Reflection
The major issue with my paper was getting it to meet the six to eight page requirement.
As I revised my paper I noticed that I am a detailed writer that doesn't know when to stop
writing. The weakness I had with writing this paper was using unnecessary words that made my
essay sound boring after a while. A strength I had was organizing my essays ideas well enough
to stay on topic. After about four pages it was hard for me to stay on topic. The knowledge I
gained about my writing skills will improve my future essays because I now have a better idea
on what to do, and what not to do.
During the revision of my paper I spent the most time on editing my choice of words.
Some sentences had words that weren't descriptive enough, or words that just didn't need to be in
that particular sentence. I went about my revisions based on how the flow of my essay sounded.
If I could read through the sentences without stopping then I considered it a fluent sentence, but
if I had to read over it more than once I needed to make changes. In my opinion my revisions
went well because my essay sounded better after every mistake I fixed. I also took the
constructive criticism from my group members into consideration.
If I had the time and energy I would try to make my essay to the limit of eight pages. I
would also take the time to work on elaborating on my ideas more to create not only the general
explanation of them, but to generate the critical aspects as well.
Compared to other essays I've written in other classes this essay was definitely more of a
challenge. With previous essays I've written they were more so based on a particular question
from one source such as only one book, and only had to be about two to three pages. With this
essay the question could be answered from many books which made it harder for me to choose
where my ideas would stem from. In order to make my writing process extremely effective I
need to be able to understand the question my essay will have to reflect on well.
I didn't exactly have any additional factors that influenced me to complete this paper
other than wanting to get a good grade. One thing I will say that motivated me to do well on this
essay was it being the first major essay of the class. I thought of it as "This is my first Uconn
English paper and I want to show my abilities as a writer."
Work Cited Page
Kaysen, Susanna, Girl Interrupted. New York: Turtle Bay Books, 1993. Book